Despite the disruption caused by COVID-19 pandemic to sport competitions, drones (malevolent or not) have overflown many games all over the world.

 

August 02, 20, a drone operator is apprehended for flying a drone over the restricted airspace of the F1 track at Silverstone, UK.
August 06, 20, Twins-Pirates baseball game temporarily delayed because of a drone incursion in Minneapolis.
December 11, 20, a drone crashes into the Allegiant Stadium causing over $10,000 in damage in Las Vegas, Nevada.
January 17, 21, Instagram influencer flies a drone into the NRG Stadium from a parking lot in Houston, Texas.
February 05, 21 two men charged for flying drones deliberately within the Super Bowl NFZ in downtown Tampa, Florida.

 

If many security processes are in place at the surface, CERBAIR warns organizers of up-coming mega events to take necessary measures for protecting their airspace.

 

From collisions causing panic and risk to life, to illegal streaming of a competition, hacktivism of a game display or spying on the preparation of competitors, the stakes are high and can definitely harm the organisers’ reputation, the integrity of sport and cause serious injuries leading to liability concerns.

 

Charles-Hubert Dufour appeals to the security directors of these events to think with a new mindset :

 

1. Not only education like the recent FAA campaign
2. But also with a solid risk assessment framework, a useful method to weigh dissimilar drone intrusions against each other.
3. Being ready to activate efficient drone detection and mitigation systems.

Specialized only on commercial drones detection, CERBAIR has based all its detection solutions on the analysis of the radiofrequency spectrum. The solution, called HYDRA, is a direction finding system with sensors that scan the electromagnetic spectrum to detect frequencies used by the communication protocols of commercial drones.

 

As soon as a signal is intercepted, HYDRA characterizes it by comparing it to a signature database and gives operators an azimuth of origin symbolized on the interface of a command and control (C2) center. HYDRA is coupled with MEDUSA, a specially designed jammer and actionable when the threat is clearly confirmed. This radio jamming cuts the communication link between the drone and its operator, thereby forcing the machine to land.

 

For the conference, Charles-Hubert Dufour will exclusively reveal a scenario of detection, characterization and neutralization in Al-Janoub Stadium based on HYDRA analysis.

 

The French General Secretariat for Defense and National Security (SGDSN) in February 2019, selected CERBAIR as a supplier of systems that can respond to malicious drone attack scenarios during major public and sporting events such as Paris 2024.